Beverage inspection device



Jan. 20, 1942. g, YOUNG, JR 2,270,613

BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEViCE File d 0,012. '21, 1938 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 20, 1942'. c. M. YOUNG, J R 2,

' BEVERAGE-INSiECT-IONDEVICE? (f Filed Oct. 21 1932 7 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 20, 1942. c. M. YOUNG, JR 7 BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEv IcE' Filed Oct. 21, 1958 v 'B SheetS Sheet s Jan. 20,1942; ,,M.YOU-.JR 2,210.61?"

BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEVICE Filed Oct. 21, 1958 s Sheets-Sheet 4 Jan. 20, 1942. c. M. YOUNG, 'JR 2,270, 13 I BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEVICE I I Filed 0 1. 21, 1958 a Sheets-Sheet s \w my,

Jan. 20, 1942. c. M. YOUNG, JR

BEVERAGE INEFECTION DEVIC-Ef Filed Oct. 21, 1938 Jan. 20, 1942.

' C..M. YOUNG, JR 2527!),613

- BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEVICE Filed 001:. 21, 1938 8 Shets-Sheet 7' @MT J- j Jan. '20, 1942.

c. M. YOUNG; JR

BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEVICE a. Sheets-Shet 8 Filed 001:. 21, 1958 ter disclosed in Patent No. 2,132,447, granted to of Figure 12.

edge driven by a gear "which is driven by Patented Jan. 20,1942

/ c BEVERAGE INSPECTION DEVICE CharlesM. Young, In, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to The Coca-Cola Company, Wilmln :ton, Del.

a corporation of Delaware Application October 21, 1938, Serial 'No. 236,370

13 Claims. (Cl. zoo-n1),-

The invention relates to the inspection of fluids in bottles and .has as an obiectthe provision of improvements upon the machine of this charac- George Philip S t on October 11, 1938, for carrying out the process claimed in said patent.

It isa further object of the invention to improve upon the machine of said patent generally, and particularly in the drive, the provision for mixing the liquid, for oscillating the testing light,

and for ejecting bottles the contents of which contain a foreign body.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description 'when read in connection with the .accompanying drawings showing an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

Figurelisapla view;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation seen from the right Fig. 3 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on lines-3 of Figure 1;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section partly broken away taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Fig. 5 is a detail section on line 5-4 of Fi of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 9 is a vertical section on line 9-9 of Figure 4, enlarged;

Fig. 10 is a side'elevation of the structure of Figure 9 showing aportion of the revolving table in section;

Fig. 11 is a horizontal section on line ll-ll of Fig. i2 is a detail vertical section on line l2-l2 ofFigilrel;and

.Fig. 13 is a horizontal section on vline li -l3 This application my application 220,762 filed July 22, 1938'.

-As shown the device comprises .a supporting table l5 mounted on a base I 8 supported by level-. ing screws IL' Standards lS-rise' from thetable ii for port of a plate l9 having a circularopening 29. V

-. Mounted tor revolution -on a central standard II is a turret 22 carryinga ringzear 29 uponits a speed-reducing mechanism housed in a casing c I is a continuation in part of" George Philip Stout above-referred to, is carried out by the passage or radiant energy through I stationaryand the contents are in motion.

. ing apparatus is shown release To cause revolution of the bottles with consequent eflect upon the contents thereof there are Mounted for revolution in said turret 22 adjacent its periphery, there are a plurality of bottle cups 29 carried by hollow stems 3|]. each provided with a drum 3| for causing revolution of the cup. The turret 22 is shown as mounted .upon ball bearings 32 upon the standard 2!.

The standard 2!, which is tubular, has a turret cover plate 33 secured as by cap screws 36 toits upper edge.

To feed bottles to the cups 29 there is shown a star wheel 35 operating in a. manner conventional with bottle-handling. apparatus, shown as driven by means of gearing similar to the gearing 86, Figure 2, for drive of the star wheel 3] for removing bottles from the cups. Thus the in and out feed devices are accurately geared to work in unison with the revolution of the turret.

Bottles are delivered to the star wheel 35 by conveyor I35. To cause the conveyor to deliver the bottles well toward the bottom of the recesses of the star wheel a deflector I36 is shown pivoted at I31 and yieldably urged toward the star wheel by spring I38. A gate member I39 forms the opposite side of the infeed throat,

which gate is shown as pivoted at I40, and. may

be actuated about its pivot intime with the revolution of the star wheel by means not shown to bottles at the proper times.

shown friction bands 39, 39, preferably'driven by a motor not shown, separate from the motor 29, and mounted upon the table l5.

The band 38 is driven as shown by the arrow .in-adirection the reverse of the band 39 and desirably at a substantially greater speed. The bands 38, 39 act upon the drums 3| for driving the individual cups 29, and the band 38 is desirably operated at a speed substantially inexcess of the speed of the band 39, for the purpose of causing a violent agitation of the contents of the bottle when the direction of revolution thereof is reversed.

The testing of the contents of the bottles for foreign bodies as described in the application of while the bottles are In accordance with the present invention. the testas mounted upon an 49 mounted in bearthe, bottles and contents oscillatory hollow spindle is so ins: u m the upper end .of the standard 2:, the

spindle carrying the optical equipment casing 42. The details of the optical equipment and the circuits involved form no portion of the present invention and may be similar to that disclosed in the Stout application, with the single exception that response to a foreign body in a bottle will cause the breaking of a controlled circuit instead of the making of such a circuit as in the Stout application.

Mounted upon the turret 22 there is a circular wall 43 having windows 44 opposite each of the cups 29, which wall 43 carries an upper ring 45 in which are revolubly mounted spindles 48 each bearing a cup 41 for engagement with the bottle cap for the purpose of keeping the bottles centered during their revolution.

The light box structure includes an arm 48 connected to the lower end of the spindle 40 having an upwardly directed portion 49, Figure 8, connected to a vertical member 50 carrying the light sensitive cell in a casing and a connecting member 52 secured to the box 42 overhanging the ring 45, whereby thecasing 5| partakes of an oscillatory movement of the box 42 and spindle 40.

To cause oscillation of the testing mechanism in one direction exactly in synchronism with the movement of the bottles with a quick return between tests, the arm 48 is shown as carrying a roller 53 pressed by a spring 54 attached to the arm 48 and anchored at 55, Figure 4, to the table, the roller 53 being thus held against a cam 58 carried by the spindle 51 upon which the gear 24 is mounted. The form of cam 58 is shown in Figure '7. g

To stop the rotation of cups 29, a brake shown in plan view in Figure 13 is provided. As there shown a bell crank 58 is pivoted at 59 to a lug 80 carried by the light box structure. A brake block 8| is secured to the arm 82 of the bell crank. To urge the brake block against the drums 3| a spring 83 pulls upon a link 84 anchored in arm 85 of the bell crank, the spring 83 having abutment against rib 88 upon arm 49.

The brake block 8| projects further from arm 82 at its heel 81 than at its point 88 and is of a length in excess of the spaces between successive,

It follows from this structure that when the heel 81 leaves one drum, during retro- I grade movement of arm 48, 49, the block will be drums 3|.

mal retracted position by a coil spring 82 against a stop member 83. The arm 84 is in turn pivoted upon arm 8| and is urged against a stop 85 also carried by the turret cover 33 by means of a spring 88. The stop 85 is preferably faced with rubber to cushion the stoppage of the arm 84.

When one of the'pins 18 is raised by breaking of the current in the solenoid 1|, it is thrown upwardly so as to come into contact with a cam 81 carried by shaft 19, thereby forcing the arm 8| and 84 to the right, as shown in Figure 4, to pass through the window 44 opposite the defective bottle and by virtue of the pivotal mounting of the arm 84 thearm can yield to the movement of the turret while the arm 8| is forcing the bottlecontacting member 88 against the bottle to force the bottle out of the cup to fall upon a surface 89 from which they may be removed in any manner desired.

When the pin 18 is raised it is locked in raised position by means of a spring-pressed pin 90, Figure 9, and held in this position until the revolution of the turret brings the pin into contact with a cam 9| carried byturret cover 33, Figure 6, which restoresany raised pin to normal position.

To allow defective bottles to be removed there is shown a cap lifting cam 92, Figures 1 and 2, and to allow removal of the bottles from the star wheel 31 there is shown a second lifting cam 93,

solenoid, it results that failure of current in the test circuit will cause de-energization of the re-.

ject solenoid with consequent "rejection" of all bottles both good and bad until the defect is remedied. Hence a defective bottle cannot be passed during failure of the test.

As shown the cam 58 is shaped to provide synchronized motion of the test light casing 42 with the bottle cups during 240 of the revolution-of the cam and a return movement of 42 during 120 of the revolution of the cam and to provide a motion corresponding to a sine curve.

12 overcoming a compression spring 13 anchored to the rod by means of lock nuts 14 and abutting against a lug 15 to hold the rod 12 down to keep a cam 18 carried by arm 11 mounted upon the rod 12 out of the path of movement of pins 18, of which one is provided for each bottle cup and mounted in the turret 22.

The pins 18 as shown in Figure 9 retain their lowermost position by gravity but when the cam 18 lifts to the dotted line position in Figure 10, the movement of the pins 18 into contact. with the cam 18 will cause them to be .raised to the dotted line position in Figure 10 to act upon the ejecting mechanism.

As shown in Figures 1, 4, and 5, the ejecting mechanism comprises a shaft 19 mounted in a bearing 88 carried by the turert cover 33. Car- With a speed of the turret acting to test 120 hottles per minute, there is thus provided a period of one-third second for the inspection test, which is ample when the bottles have been spun at a speed of substantially 900 R. P. M. for a time fect dispersion of the syrup through the other liquid in the bottle than other mixing devices heretofore used, which is of importance in a dependable inspection.

while on the machine, and-access of the'syrup" to the mechanism would be detrimental to its operation. The machine of the invention has been formed to protectthe mechanism from access of liquids. To this end the turret cover 83 hasa downturned lip lapping with an upturnedmarginal rib 88 surrounding the recess in-the turret. The upper surface of the turret about and. between the bosses 91 in which the cups :9 revolve, slopes downwardly and outwardly as shownv at 88, Figures 3 and 5, andat its extreme outer edge the turret is formed beneath with an annu-.

ment"!!! of opening 20 'in.the plate IS, a shield MI is secured to the arm 159 which oscillates in said enlargement space, the shield having an up-' tnmed lip entering the groove 99. The surface of plate 19 slopes from the left as seen in Figure 2 to the right in said Figure, as indicated by dotted line at I02. An upstanding flange IE3 is provided around the opening 20 and the enlargement Hill to prevent liquid on plate 19 from entering the opening it.

Conveyors of the type indicated at B5 are in common use'in bottling plants and bottles are commonly moved from one machine to another by such' means. The machine of the present invention may be withdrawn from use without interfering with movement of bottles on the conveyor to and from the other machines, by merely removing the guides IM, and I35 and the star wheels 35 and 31, .when the bottles will pass the machine uninterruptedly.

Minor changes may bemade in the physical.

embodiment of the invention within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a turret revolubly mounted on said support; a ring gear carried by said turret; a drive shaft mounted on the support having fixed thereon a pinion in mesh with sam ling ed on said support for oscillation; and a cam mounted on said drive shaft to cause oscillation of said test means in synchronism one direction with movement of the respective bottle-carrying means past a testing station with quick return.

4. The combination of claim3 wherein the cam is shaped to cause the test means to move with and in the direction of movement of a bottlecarrying means during a majority of each revolution of. the cam and to have an opposite motion of oscillation during a minority of each revolution.

5. In a machine of the class described in com-' bination: a support; a turret revolubly mounted on said support; a plurality of bottle-holding means carried by said support; test means mounted on said support for oscillation on the axis of said turret; a ring gear carried by an edge of said turret; a drive shaft carrying a gear inmesh with said ring gear, geared to make one revolution during passage of each bottle carrying means past said test means; and a cam fixed on said drive shaft causing oscillation of said test means, in synchronism in one direction with the respective bottle carrying means, with quick return into registry with the next bottle.

.6. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a hollow standard rising from said support; a turret mounted on the exterior of said standard to revolve thereabout; a test means carrying structure mounted on bear!- ings fixed interiorly of said standard to oscillate gear to cause revolution of said turret; a plu rality of bottle cups carried by said turret; testing means mounted on-the support for oscillation; cam means mounted on said drive shaft to cause said oscillation in synchronism with passage of each bottle in said cups past the test ing station with quick return; and reject means actuated responsive to presenceof a foreign body in the contents of a bottle as determined by said test means, acting to remove said bottle from the course of movement of bottles whose contents are satisfactory. i

2. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a turret revoluble thereon; a plurality of bottle-receiving cups revolubly mounted on said turret; a circular wall mounted on said turret formed with 'a windowopposite each cup; a ring'gear carried by said turret; a drive gear meshing with said ring gear so related thereto as to make one revolution during the travel of each successive cup past a given point; a cam driven at the speed of said drive gear; radi ant energy test means mounted for oscillation on the axis of the turret and directing its radiant energy successively through said windows and through bottles carried by said cups; means to oscillate said test means from said cam in one direction at 'the speed of travel of the turret, with .quick return and with amplitude equal to the spacing between the cups; and means actuated by movement of the turret to reject botties responding to the test means.

3. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a turret revolubly mounted on said support; a ring gear carried by an outer edge of said turret; a plurality of bottle carry! ing means carried by the turret at regularly spaced intervals thereon; a drive shaft carrying on the axis thereof; a plurality of bottle-carrying means mounted on said turret to move past-said test means; drive means for the turret; and cam means actuated by said drive means to cause oscillation of said structure with the passage of each bottle carrying means; said oscillation in one direction synchronous with the movement of each successive bottle carrying means.

'7. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support comprising a vertical hollow standard having a lateral opening; a turret mounted in bearings located on the outside of said standard above said opening; bottle carrying means carried by said turret adjacent its periphcry; a shaft revolubly mounted within said standard for oscillation on the axis of said turret; a

housing for one portion of radiant energy testing means secured upon the upper portion of said shaft; an arm secured to'said shaft, projecting through said opening below said turret and upwardly beyond the periphery thereof a housin for a second portion of radiant energy testing means carried oy said arm, oscillating exteriorly of said bottle carrying means in unison with movements of said first named housing; means to cause revolution of said turret; and means to cause an oscillationof said shaft and-housings synchronous with the passage of the respective bottle carrying means between the housings.

8. The combination of claim 7 in which the drive means includes a ring gear carried by the turret and a drive shaft carrying a gear in mesh with the ring gear and in which the oscillation of the housings is caused by a cam driven by said drive 'shaft coacting with a member fixed on said arm.

9. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support comprising a vertical standard; a turret formed with an upwardly facing annular recess, mounted to revolve on bearings carried by the vertical surface of said standard; a stationary cover plate fixed upon the upper portion of said standard and overlying said recess; a plurality of bottle cups carried by said turret; a plurality of movable members carried by a wall of said recess, one for each cup; means carried by the standard to inspect the contents of botties carried by said cups for presence of foreign bodies; means acting in response to presence of a foreign body to cause the member corresponding to the cup carrying that bottle to-project to an abnormal position in the recess; bottle ejecting means mounted on said turret cover comprising a member projecting into said recess in the path of movement of members while in abnormal position, to be contacted by such member and acting as a result of such contact to eject the bottle from its cup as the turret revolves, said ejecting means comprises an oscillatable shaft having fixed thereto the contacting member, a

' said bottle to eject the same from its cup; said crank arm, an ejecting arm pivoted on said crank arm and spring means to return the arms respectively to normal position.

10. In a machine of the classdescribed, in combination: a revoluble turret; means to inspect the contents of bottles moving with said turret; a plurality of members movably mounted on the turret. one individual to each bottle; means responsive to detection by said inspection means, of a foreign body in the contents of a bottle, for moving the corresponding member to an abnormal position; a shaft oscillatable about its axis, mounted adjacent the path of movement of the members in abnormal position; said shaft stationary relative to the turret; acrank arm secured to said shaft standing in said abnormal path of movement; a second crank arm fixed upon said shaft; spring means to urge said sec-- ond named crank arm toward a fixed stop; an

arm pivotally mounted on said second crank arm spring-pressed to a normal position, arranged to abut a bottle corresponding to a member in abnormal position; whereby when said shaft is moved by an abnormally positioned member the bottle corresponding thereto shall be removed from-the turret by said last named arm.

11. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a revoluble turret; a cylindrical drum mounted on said turret and formed with a plurality of windows; aplurality of bottle cups carried by said turret respectively opposite and exterior of said windows; radiant energy testing means to direct energy through the sue- "cessive windows as the turretrevolves; bottle through the window corresponding to the bottle responding-tosaid test and to endwise engage mal path of movement of said movable members to restore the same to normal position. I

'12. In a .machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a revoluble turret mounted on said support and formed with an upwardly facing annular recess; a plurality of bottle cups carried by said turret; a stationary cover for said turret recess carried by said support; bottle-content testing; means mounted on said support for oscillation; means to cause oscillation of said testing means synchronous in one direction with movement of said cups there-past; a plurality of pins movably mounted in said recess normally substantially flush with the bottom wall thereof and projecting below the turret; a vertically slidable member mounted on the support below said turret; a cam carried by said member; spring means urging said member to a position wherein said cam is in the path of movement of said pins to cause the latter to project above the wall of the recess; yieldable latch means to hold the pins in abnormal position until forciblyrestored; a normally energized solenoid having an armature normally restraining said spring means, and allowing said cam means to rise into the path of movement of said pins when current th'erethrough is broken responsive to action of said test means; means projecting into said recess to causemechanical ejection of a bottle by engagement with a pin in abnormal position; and cam means carried by-said cover standing in said recess in the abnormal path of movement of said pins to overcome said latch means and restore any pin to normal position when moved there-against.

13. In a machine of the class described, in combination: a support; a turret revolubly mounted on said support; a pluralityof b'ottle carrying cups revolubly mounted on said turret;

a ring gear carried by said turret; means to drive said turret through said gear; radiant energy test ,means oscillatably mounted on said support to direct testing energy through bottles carried by said cups; means to violently spin said cups in one direction as the turret revolves; means to suddenly reverse the cups for mixing the contents of bottles carried thereby, andto spin the cups in the opposite direction to cause revolution of the contents therewith; cam means driven by said drive means to cause movement of oscillation of said test meansin one direction with bottles' carried by the cups during a testing period, and quick reversemovement into registry with the following bottle; brake means carried by the oscillating structure to hold the cups and bottles from rotation during the test.

CHARLESM. YOUNG, an 

